Hi folks.

Six months ago the thought of driving a Hummer never crossed my mind however when the time came to change cars I knew that I needed some type of all-terrain vehicle that could keep going even when the pavement ended.

I wanted vehicle that was fun to drive and more luxurious like a car rather than a truck.

After several weeks of researching and looking I came across a 08 Hummer H3 sitting in a car lot here in South Florida.

So I decided to look further into the Hummer brand see what was all about.

I even bought a book called Hummer H3 by Larry Edsall that gives great insight into the Hummer brand and the development of the H3.

What really sold me on the Hummer H3 though was all of the owner comments I found around the Internet.

The H3 has an extremely high customer satisfaction rating...quite simply I discovered that owners seem to love their Hummers.

So I test drove it and on the same day ended up trading a 05 Z51 Corvette for for the H3.

I can honestly say I do not miss the Corvette at all.

As far as driver comfort goes, I would have to think hard to try and come up with a car I've driven that is as comfortable to drive as the H3, and I'm 6 foot four so this is coming from a tall guy who really notices stuff like this.

We also have a nice 2012 Grand Cherokee with the Hemi V-8 sitting in the garage, guess which one I drive more often?

I think of the Hummer as a "magic carpet" that just sorta floats over everything delivering a super smooth ride even at 80 mph down the freeway.

Of course it has the sucky points as well like limited visibility especially when you're trying to back up, very limited room in the back seat especially if you're sitting behind me and of course the gas mileage.

I hear people complain about the performance of the I5 H3's but I'm actually surprised at how quick it is off the line. The I5 is a dependable, proven engine and with a few mods I bet it would push 300hp, why do you need more than that?

It's no Corvette but I knew that already and I didn't get a Hummer for drag racing anyway.

This Hummer is an "urban crawler" mostly driven to and from the office in downtown Fort Lauderdale which means stop and go traffic, train crossings and a drawbridge here and there.

The mileage is averaging around 12 right now.

I'm pretty hands-on and am anxious to customize the Hummer but before I start adding big wheels and tires, suspension parts and all of the other cool aftermarket stuff available for these cars, my first project is to try and get the MPG up, way up.

I figure with all of the advanced gadgetry there is around today, surely there is some way to kick the MPG up.

Now I'm aware of all the usual mods like exhaust, air filter, computer tune and so on but I decided to try try something else first.

So my first project is installing an HHO system into the Hummer.

At this point I have no idea if these things really work but I believe the potential is there so I figure the only way to really find out is to do it myself and see firsthand.

I look forward to participating in the forum and while in the beginning I'm sure I will have more questions than answers, I've been working on cars since I was 15 (32 years ago) and have a pretty good understanding of how things work so I will try to help out as much as I can.

Thanks,

Michael